The Jackson's Sick Day
by Abnegation Ravenclaw
Summary: "Sounds like a cold." Sally went over to her son's side and put her palm to his forehead. "You've got a little fever. How do you feel about taking a sick day? I'll call Paul and let him know that you're sick." / Percy gets sick and some mother/son fluff ensues.


**Who's ready for the Sickfic with Percy and Sally? Okay, that sounded really cheesy. xD **

**I got more votes for this one than the platonic Solangelo (which I am still struggling with). **

* * *

"Percy, get up, sweetheart." Sally called. "You're going to be late for school."

"Mmh," her son gave a muffled sort of groan. "Mom?"

"Yes, honey?"

"I'm not feeling so great." He did sound kind of hoarse, Sally noticed. She went into his room and found him wrapped up in his blankets, sort of like a cocoon.

"What hurts?"

"My throat and my head," Percy mumbled. "And my nose is kind of stuffed up."

"Sounds like a cold." Sally went over to her son's side and put her palm to his forehead. "You've got a little fever. How do you feel about taking a sick day? I'll call Paul and let him know that you're sick."

"Okay," he sat up and rubbed at his nose. She smiled sympathetically at her son.

"In the meantime, I want you to get some more sleep." She ordered. "You'll feel better quicker."

"Got it. Sleep is good." Percy cracked a smile and sank back into his pillows with a sigh. Sally went out to the living room and dialed Paul's number on the home phone.

"Hello?" Paul asked on the other end.

"Hey, Percy's sick today, so I thought I'd call you really quickly." She said hurriedly.

"Oh, okay. Poor guy." Her husband replied. "What does he have?"

"It seems like a cold. He just woke up with a sore throat and he sounds really congested." Sally answered. "He has a slight fever, too. Do you think you could grab the work he missed and bring it back?"

"Of course, honey. Okay, I have to go." Paul said. "Love you."

"Love you too." Sally hung up and went into the kitchen, pulling out a pancake mix and her signature blue food dye. Ten minutes later, Percy wandered out of his bedroom. "Hey, you're supposed to be asleep."

"I would like to say that I smelled food, but I really can't smell anything right now," Percy replied. "I actually just heard you getting the stuff out and I'm a little hungry, so..." He took a seat at the table and Sally set a plate of blue pancakes in front of her son.

"Do you want something to drink?" She asked. "Orange juice might do you some good, with the vitamin c and all, but it might irritate your throat. What do you think? Maybe tea will soothe your throat."

"As long as it helps my throat, I'll drink it." He said. And that was how Percy Jackson actually ended up drinking tea. Ordinarily, he didn't like tea, but out of pure desperation and the hope that his throat would be less sore, he drained the mug without complaint. "Wow, who knew that stuff actually worked."

"Are you finished?" Sally gestured to the plate of food that her son had only picked at. He nodded. "Now I want you to lay down- either in your bed or on the couch- and just rest for a while." Percy obeyed and flopped down onto the couch.

"Hey, mom?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"Can you get me a blanket? Oh, and some tissues?" Sally didn't really see why he needed a blanket, seeing as he was wearing pajama pants and an old sweatshirt already, but she grabbed one for her son anyway.

A few minutes later, Percy was curled up on his side under a blanket, coughing and sneezing occasionally. Sally was sitting on the other couch with her laptop, working on her novel.

"How's your book coming along?" He asked, grabbing a tissue from the box on the floor next to him.

"It's going good. I have good days and bad days with writing, but it's coming along." She answered absentmindedly. Her son blew his nose and smiled, but Sally could tell that his heart wasn't really in it. "How are you doing?"

"I'm still feeling sick and all." Percy answered. A short pause followed. "I'm gonna go back to bed for a little bit."

"Okay, sweetie." She kissed his cheek after he got up. About fifteen minutes later, Sally tiptoed over to her son's bedroom and peered inside. He was fast asleep, cocooned in his comforter.

* * *

Sally spent a good two hours writing while Percy was asleep, but she couldn't help but notice the occasional fits of coughing that could be heard from his bedroom. And just when she was really getting into the scene she was writing, she was interrupted by Percy coming back out to the couch.

"Hey," he said softly, sounding very congested.

"Did you sleep okay?" Percy shrugged and grabbed a tissue to blow his nose. Sally looked curiously at her son for a second.

"What's up?" He asked, coughing into his sleeve.

"Is fifteen too old to get all comfy on the couch and watch Disney movies?" She asked. Percy grinned lopsidedly.

"Of course not, mom."

And so that's how the two ended up on the couch having a Disney movie marathon, Percy resting his head on Sally's shoulder.

"Can you pass me a tissue?" He asked. Sally picked up the tissue box and handed it to her son, who grabbed a few and blew his nose yet again. "Gods of Olympus, why is my nose so-" he broke off with a few coughs.

"You're just sick," she put her palm to his forehead. "You'll be back to normal in a few days."

"Yeah..." Percy sneezed and was sniffling nonstop until he got ahold of the tissues and blew his nose again. "Ugh, I hate this." he pulled the blanket up to his chin and closed his eyes with a sleepy sigh. Within a few minutes, the sick boy was asleep.

Sally slowly got up and tucked the blanket around her son, who didn't stir. Then she got out her laptop again and went back to writing.

* * *

"Mom?" Sally was once again really in the zone when Percy woke up.

"Yes, Percy?"

"Do you think I could have some ambrosia or nectar or something?" He asked.

"Since it raises body temperature, we'd have to see how high your fever is before we do anything," she replied. "If you don't have too high of a fever, I guess a square of ambrosia can't hurt." She got up and located the thermometer, then handed it to Percy. He put it in his mouth for a few seconds, then pulled it out when the device beeped.

"99.8," he read. "Too high for ambrosia?"

"No, I think you can have a square." Sally went into a cupboard and pulled out a ziplock bag of the godly food, then gave some to Percy. He sighed in delight after he'd swallowed it. "Better?"

"A little better," he said. "My head doesn't feel so... fuzzy, I guess, anymore."

"That's a relief. Are you hungry at all? I was thinking about making lunch."

"I'm a little hungry." Percy grabbed a tissue and blew his nose for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

"How does soup sound?"

"Sounds good." Sally noticed that her son seemed much more alert after some ambrosia, even if he was still sick. Percy readjusted the blanket and pillow so that he could sit up more comfortably.

Sally opened up a can of soup and dumped it into a pot, letting it boil. Five minutes later, her and Percy were both quietly eating soup on the couch. As the day went on, he began to look slightly better than he had earlier that morning. His eyes weren't so glazed over and his cheeks weren't quite as flushed as they had been earlier, and he did seem much more awake and cheerful. The two resumed the Disney movie marathon, which lasted for most of the afternoon.

"Paul should be home in a little while," Sally noted. "School would just now be getting out." The phone rang a few minutes later, and she got up to go answer it. "Hello?"

"Hi, is Percy there?" A girl asked. "It's me, Rachel."

"Yeah, he's here, hold on." Sally answered. "Hey, Percy, it's for you." She handed the phone to her son.

"Hello?" Percy answered. Sally couldn't hear the whole conversation. "I stayed home sick today. How was the earthworm?"

Rachel replied with something.

"No, no, it's nothing like that." There was another pause. "Thanks for the support." That last statement sounded very sarcastic. "Okay, bye."

"What did she say?" Sally asked.

"She was just demanding why I wasn't at school today. Apparently she had to dissect an earthworm in biology without me." He shrugged. "Then she wanted to know if it was like, a weird godly sickness, I said no, and she told me not to breathe on her until I was positive that I wasn't sick." Percy chuckled, which quickly turned into a cough.

"Have you talked to Annabeth lately?" She tried to say casually. The daughter of Athena was obviously jealous of Percy's friendship with the mortal.

"Not really." Percy answered absentmindedly. Then, as an afterthought, "I would like to talk to her, but demigods can't really use technology and she's in California." He sneezed suddenly and grabbed a tissue.

"It's already February, summer will be here before you know it." As soon as it came out of her mouth, Sally wished she could take it back. This summer would be Percy's sixteenth birthday, which meant that there would be a great prophecy that may destroy the world or something like that. "I'm sorry, I know-"

"It's okay," Percy said hurriedly. Sally went over and gave her son a hug that lasted a good two minutes before he pulled away to blow his nose again. "I, umm, I think I'm gonna go take a nap." He stood up, still keeping the blanket draped over his shoulders, and went back to his room. Shortly after he left, the front door opened and Paul walked in.

"Hi, honey." He walked over and gave Sally a peck on the cheek. "How's Percy doing?"

"He's sleeping right now, but he was looking better than he had earlier this morning." She answered.

"That's good." Paul set down a small stack of papers and a textbook. "Here's all of the homework that he missed, if he's feeling up to it later. Do you think he'll be staying home again tomorrow?"

"We'll see if he's still feverish in the morning." Sally answered. "So, what should we have for dinner tonight?"

"I'll take care of it." Her husband assured her. "You just go relax, you've been taking care of Percy all day."

Sally felt a rush of gratitude at the comment, and she kissed Paul once again before tiptoeing down the hallway to check on Percy. When she opened the door, she found her son fast asleep under a few blankets. Tissues littered the bed and floor here and there; it seemed like they were everywhere today. Sally smiled to herself and carefully tiptoed out.

* * *

When Percy woke up, he realized two things: first, it was morning and he'd slept for almost sixteen straight hours, and second, he was still sick with a sore throat and a very annoying cough along with a runny nose. Moaning softly, he rolled out of bed and dragged himself out to the living room, taking a blanket with him.

"How are you feeling?" Paul asked.

"Not great." Percy coughed into his sleeve. Sally entered the room and put her palm on his forehead.

"You still have a slight fever. How about another sick day?" He groaned and dropped unceremoniously onto the couch. Percy reached for a tissue, and...

"Mom, we're out of tissues."

* * *

**This turned out wayyyyyy longer than I meant it to be... Whoops. What did you think? What was your favorite part? I personally loved writing the phone conversation because I busted out laughing at "how was the earthworm?" For some reason. **

**So I want to write kind of a sibling argument between Jason and Thalia about something really pointless... I'll love you forever if you give me an idea of something they would argue about. :)**


End file.
